OUT TO PASTURE? (Psalm 71)

Just as each day brims with your beauty, my mouth brims with praise.
But don't turn me out to pasture when I'm old or put me on the shelf when I can't pull my weight. (Psalm 71:8-9, MSG)

You, who made me stare trouble in the face, turn me around;
Now let me look life in the face.
I've been to the bottom;
Bring me up, streaming with honors; turn to me, be tender to me.
And I'll take up the lute and thank you to the tune of your faithfulness, God. (Psalm 71:17-24, MSG)

I had a best friend named Jonathan when we were in second grade. We remained good friends until I seventeen years later. But Jon is responsible for a sad-but-funny childhood memory. We were playing farm and ranch or something like that with another girl. They sent me "out to pasture" while they went on to play somewhere else.

Hmm. That's the way I was feeling on Saturday--put out to pasture while God was playing with someone else, someone younger, with more time and freedom to travel than I do.

Yesterday I reached a point where I felt hopeful that I would again feel hopeful and find purpose. I still don't know what that purpose will be--but God will show me and until then, I live the day He has mapped out for me: I have four more books to write. And I hope to complete two years at least of this blog, taking us all the way through the New Testament.
Today I received a birthday card that sent exactly the message I needed to hear: You hold a special place in God's heart and a special purpose in this world. . .and that makes you irreplaceable.

Saturday, I stared the trouble ahead of me in the face. I am aging. I haven't left the nursing home for anything except my trip to the hospital in over a year. I may have topped out as far as how wide a path I will cut in the writing world. (Yes, I will write more books, but I doubt that I will become a bestseller or win a Pulitzer prize.) My glass was more than empty.

Today I echo David's prayer: Let me look life in the face. And it IS life. Every pain-filled, joy-filled, GOD-filled minute of it. Any honors that come to me, may I offer them as thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. Today, my glass is half full and the liquid level is rising.

How do you look life in the face?

TODAY'S FAVORITE VERSE: Especially for writers. I'll write the book on your righteousness, talk up your salvation in the livelong day, never run out of good things to write or say. (Psalm 71:15, MSG)